I heard Alex Bogusky speak this week at the AMIN network conference. Once you get over the fame and the looks, he really is just a sweet and well-spoken, kick-ass creative guy.

He said he joined Crispin Porter back when it was 16 people and he was a senior Art Director. It’s now 1,000 people.

He said he loves when Crispin ‘gets small.’ When the agency opened up a location in Boulder, the plan was to take 50 people. This was energizing to him. CP+B has just acquired a small digital shop in the UK which is also 50 people. The nimble entrepreneurism and we-can-do-anything optimism of a small team is what he craves.

That’s what we have at NYCA and it’s so funny – we seek growth. We long for new challenges and to explore the horizon we know is out there for us.

The irony is that at a certain size, we will no longer be small. And we love the feeling that small brings. Our teams are like little schools of fish, supporting each other and swimming to protect each other and the marvelous ideas that get pinned up every day.

It’s an unsolvable puzzle: how to get bigger without giving up our smallness. Let me know if you solve it and we’ll write a book.

Nothing matters but grow!

It may be a big idea.
It may be right on strategy.
It may come in under budget.
It may make the CEO giddy.
It may be passed around by the consumer.
It may have scored in the top percentile on persuasion in tests.
It may feature the product like no other.
It may win awards.
It may be delivered in mediums not yet invented.
It may be your favorite work of all time.
But if it doesn’t grow the business.
And grow it with the brand values.
And grow it so it opens paths in the future.
It doesn’t matter.